Exclusive: Facebook eyes Sunnyvale office complex for huge expansion

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The Moffett Towers 2 office complex in Sunnyvale, in a visualization. Facebook, which is growing dramatically in its hometown of Menlo Park, is eyeing another huge expansion: roughly 1 million square feet of new offices in Sunnyvale.

Jay Paul, Newmark Knight Frank

An office building in the Moffett Towers 2 complex, in a visualization. Facebook, which is growing dramatically in its hometown of Menlo Park, is eyeing another huge expansion: roughly 1 million square feet of new offices in Sunnyvale.

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Jay Paul, Newmark Knight Frank

A gathering place and amenities area in the Moffett Towers 2 complex in Sunnyvale. Facebook, which is growing dramatically in its hometown of Menlo Park, is eyeing another huge expansion: roughly 1 million square feet of new offices in Sunnyvale.

Jay Paul, Newmark Knight Frank

Office buildings in the Moffett Towers 2 complex in Sunnyvale. Facebook, which is growing dramatically in its hometown of Menlo Park, is eyeing another huge expansion: roughly 1 million square feet of new offices in Sunnyvale.

Jay Paul, Newmark Knight Frank

One of the office buildings in the Moffett Towers 2 development, in a visualization. Facebook, which is growing dramatically in its hometown of Menlo Park, is eyeing another huge expansion: roughly 1 million square feet of new offices in Sunnyvale.

SUNNYVALE — Facebook, which is growing dramatically in its hometown of Menlo Park, is eyeing another huge expansion: roughly 1 million square feet of new offices in Sunnyvale.

Menlo Park-based Facebook in recent days leased three big office buildings in a Sunnyvale project developed by realty firm Jay Paul that is known as Moffett Towers 2, according to people with knowledge of the transaction.

Facebook potentially could move 5,000 to 6,000 employees into the Sunnyvale offices at Moffett Towers 2.

“I have no comment to offer on the record or on background,” said Jamil Walker, a Facebook spokesman.

At one million square feet, Facebook’s Sunnyvale lease appears to be the largest commercial rental transaction signed so far during the first three months of 2018.

Executives with San Francisco-based Jay Paul and brokers with commercial realty brokerage Newmark Knight Frank declined to comment about leasing activity by any specific tenants at the five-building Moffett Towers 2 complex.

“All I can say is that all five buildings are leased and off the market,” said Phil Mahoney, a Newmark Knight Frank vice chairman and one of the leasing agents for the Moffett Towers 2 project. The complex fronts on 11th Street in Sunnyvale near the corner of the former E Street, which is being renamed Discovery Way.

When completed, the development will total 1.7 million square feet of modern, state-of-the-art offices. Of the five buildings, two are largely complete, and a third is under construction.

“Two buildings have yet to commence construction, but will be shortly,” Mahoney said.

Facebook potentially would become neighbors in Sunnyvale with Amazon, which also has leased at least one building in Moffett Towers 2, as well as Google, which leases or owns numerous buildings and sites in Sunnyvale, including nearby office complexes.

A unit of Amazon, A2Z Development Center, whose principal subsidiary is Amazon research and development unit Lab 126, has leased an entire 350,000-square-foot building in Moffett Towers 2 at 905 11th Ave. in Sunnyvale, according to Santa Clara County public records.

Seattle-based Amazon is expected to move into a second office building near the first one it leased. Amazon didn’t respond to multiple requests about its activities in Sunnyvale when this news organization reported that the company has effectively cobbled together a huge Sunnyvale campus that tops 1 million square feet.

Beyond Sunnyvale and its Menlo Park headquarters, Facebook is also widening its expansion efforts in other cities.

In November, Facebook marked its first foray into Fremont by leasing two big office buildings in Fremont’s Ardenwood district with room enough for 950 workers.

In Mountain View, Facebook is considering obtaining a large chunk of office space through an arrangement with WeWork, which has subleased 475,000 square feet of offices in the Village at San Antonio mixed-used development.

“Big companies want to expand here,” said Stephen Levy, director of the Palo Alto-based Center for Continuing Study of the California Economy. “They are buying properties and leasing offices. It’s a sign that Silicon Valley remains a major area of expansion.”

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